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USF Scrutinizes Web Integrity After Cheating Allegation

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By ADAM EMERSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 11, 2008

Updated: 01/11/2008 12:15 am

TAMPA - Following claims by the wife of a University of South Florida football star that she did her husband's online coursework, the university is asking faculty leaders to study how to better protect the academic integrity of such courses.

Administrators directed at least one academic council of faculty members and students to weigh how to secure online courses and exams. By next week, administrators may call more faculty leaders together to talk about improving upon the patchwork security now given to online classes.

The university has no uniform standard to guard against cheating in online courses, and instead relies on instructors to ferret out academic misconduct, said Glen Besterfield, USF's associate dean of undergraduate studies.

But security varies widely from professor to professor. Some have students take online exams in proctored settings, or require student identification before testing. Many don't, however.
Florida State University also left online course security up to instructors until allegations surfaced last spring that more than two dozen student-athletes had cheated in an online music history course. FSU announced last month that it will require students testing in online courses to bring a photo ID and a password to a supervised testing center.

USF may adopt such protections and survey other schools over the next semester to find the best defenses against cheating, Besterfield said Thursday.

"Without question, we need to look very closely at how we're doing online courses, at who's on the other end of that computer," he said.

USF faculty and administrators have debated how to protect online course integrity for the past couple of years, as online courses have proliferated.

Besterfield acknowledged, however, that the need to discuss changes gained urgency after the wife of USF linebacker Ben Moffitt said she completed two online courses for him and, with her twin sister, wrote papers for him.

Neither Besterfield nor other university leaders will confirm whether they will investigate Shauna Moffitt's allegations, citing a federal law protecting a student's privacy.

A Growing Medium

Ben Moffitt, a four-year starter for the Bulls, filed for divorce from Shauna last week in Sumter County Circuit Court.

Though his attorneys haven't addressed his wife's allegations of academic misconduct, they tried unsuccessfully to legally gag her from making what they called "false statements to the press as to Ben Moffitt's contact and financial support since the parties' separation."

The USF Undergraduate Council of faculty members and students will meet to discuss how to protect online course integrity at its meeting Monday. The council's chairman, Larry Thompson, an associate professor at USF's Florida Mental Health Institute, declined to comment on the group's mission until then.

While the number of online courses offered at USF was unavailable Thursday, Besterfield said that number "has probably exploded" over the past three years.

All the state's public universities are launching more online courses as their classrooms hit capacity. Education experts fear, however, that the growth in online education increases the likelihood of cheating.

The state's university oversight board has spent the past year pushing for growth in online education. It is one way, officials say, to relieve overcrowded classrooms and meet the greater demand for bachelor's degrees.

But there is no standard way to deliver online education in the state university system, nor is there agreement on how to protect its academic integrity.

System Board May Discuss Issue

Bill Edmonds, spokesman for the university system's Board of Governors, said the board has long "struggled against the natural urge to micromanage" its schools.

But the allegations of academic misconduct that have surfaced at USF and FSU "have caught the attention" of the board's leadership, Edmonds said, adding that the board could discuss the subject at their Jan. 23 and 24 meetings in Tallahassee.

FSU administrators tightened their online education safeguards in December after they determined that a tutor who worked with student-athletes provided answers in an online test of music history and, in some cases, provided complete exams. The content of the exam also stayed the same from semester to semester.

At least 50 FSU student-athletes may be penalized for cheating, officials say. The tutor has resigned, and the university changed the assessment of the course so that no two students see the same exam.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285 or aemerson@tampatrib.com.

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